windows of the broken souls
by Unlimited ink
Summary: She tried to push away the rubble with all the strength she could muster, still no luck and by the sound of it the state of the pile was very unstable one wrong move and she might not see tomorrow. A story about the difficulty in letting go as the Shinobi world faces a new danger. Im not good at summarys, sasuhina drama story with lots of action rated M in later chapters.
1. The mission

Hello everyone this will be my first ever fanfiction posted on this site, I'm so glad to share this with you and I hope you enjoy it. This will be a Naruto FanFiction story about a new threat that emerged after the fourth Shinobi world War, speaking of which in this version of things certain events happened very differently. The allied Shinobi forces fought against tobi and kabuto who resurrected madara but Noone else with an army of 100 000 white zetsu clones and there was no kaguya at all. Naruto and Sasuke make a deal in which Sasuke will kill the elders responsible for the Uchiha massacre in exchange for his help in defeating the akatsuki, they succeed and Sasuke gets his wish. After which he leaves the village saying he can't be around the village for a while he needs time to accept everything that has happened and to find a way to cope with it. Naruto understands especially since the citizens of the village most likely wouldn't be very kind if he immediately got accepted back just like that time is exactly what he needs.

Naruto's strongest form at this point is his kyuubi mode just when the war starts in the actual anime, and Sasuke doesn't have a rinnegan although he does have EMS and in this version of things he obtains itachis MS abilities on top of his own, and instead of his MS powers being amaterasu and the ability to shape it as he wants he instead has the unique teleportation/replacement ability his rinnegan gives him in boruto but here it's a Sharingan ability. His susanoo is still his original though but with the yata mirror, and they still both lose their arms but Naruto is given a new arm that is entirely normal with no special DNA while Sasuke refuses and decides that this will be his punishment for the multiple crimes he committed against the five nations. Tobi was never Obito in this version he was just a maniacal madman who Noone still knows anything about. Sasuke and Naruto lost their arms by having to connect with the most powerful chidori and rasengan clash on each side of madara to destroy him the amount of power they use results in the loss of their arms.

Sasuke and Naruto are both 22 and you can fill in the other rookie 9s ages by using that as a guide if you want.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE NARUTO CHARACTERS OR THE STORY ITSELF IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. THESE CHARACTERS BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO ALONG WITH ALL OF NARUTO. **

Let's begin

**Chapter 1: The mission **

**In the hyuuga mansion**

**Monday morning**

Birds were chirping and the sun was shining as she opened her eyes, almost immediately being blinded by the rays of light as they hit her square on the forehead. She had forgotten to close the blinds again, this happened from time to time when she would sneak into her room through the window instead of walking through the main gate which she usually did out of respect and fear for her father who would most likely question her six ways to Sunday if he knew she came back so late. She had thought about telling him multiple times that it was because of her anbu missions and such but knowing him he would likely figure out that she wasn't being entirely truthful, thank God the hyuga strictly forbid the use of the bakugan to spy on any members inside the compound or he would have found out by now.

She stood up from her bed and walked to her bathroom where she examined herself, soon it would be time for breakfast according to her clock so she needed to be ready. She had been assigned a mission the previous day by the hokage saying it was an s-rank reconnaissance mission, despite the fact that it was a mission she couldn't wait to leave the village, her usual anbu missions included patrolling the village walls sometimes well into the night so she welcomed the chance to finally get a Change of scenery. After having celebrated Naruto and Sakuras engagement the previous night, the reason for her breaking and entering style return to home this time, she needed a break from everything. She was happy for them, after confessing her feelings to Naruto during pains attack Naruto had told her that he didn't feel the same way a few weeks after and despite the initial pain she had gotten over it, because even if he didn't return her feelings she had finally gathered up the courage to tell him how she felt and such a breakthrough was invaluable.

She took a long shower and quickly wore her anbu uniform excited for what the day could hold for her. She went downstairs to the main branch dining room where her father and hanabi were having breakfast. "Good morning father" she said while bowing to the hyuuga patriarch. While hanabi was almost of age to accept the role of the hyuuga clan leader most of the hyuuga members, hinata included, still widely recognized hiashi as the leader for the time Being. "Good morning daughter" he replied, "morning hanabi" she then greeted her sibling who seemed preoccupied with munching on the toast and rice balls that had been prepared for them. "hey sis" she said in between bites. "where are you off to today?" hiashi asked his eldest daughter, though hinata thought he didn't know hiashi had already discovered her late night returns but he never questioned her about it because of their new dynamic. Their relationship was no longer one of fear and belittlement but rather support and trust so he did not feel the need to question her, but her late returns usually occured during weekends so he was confused as to why she was in her ninja gear today. "The hokage assigned me a mission father" hinata said as she packed the food in some bento boxes. She figured her mission would require a full squad considering the amount of secrecy around her mission and its s-rank status, so she may as well pack some food for her teammates whoever they are as well. "well I hope everything goes well" hiashi said as he observed his daughter finishing the last of her packaging and happily skipping out of the mansion, "thank you father, I have no idea when I'll make it back but I hope to see you soon" she said as the guards opened the gates for her to walk through.

**At the hokage tower**

Shino Aburame stood in the hokages office next to Ino Yamanaka as they awaited the rest of their team to receive the mission. The hokage Kakashi Hatake currently sat in front of both in his chair behind his desk reading one of his many books, but of course the hokage wasn't that irresponsible, he had covered up the infamous book with a book about jutsu but Shino knew his hokage very well. After 20 minutes of waiting, which Shino wasn't entirely annoyed by, the third member of the team arrived and it was none other than his teammate Hinata Hyuuga. To say he was surprised would be an understatement, normally three man groups consisted of two males and a female so this was out of the ordinary for him and Hinata was a member of the anbu which made her very dangerous in her own book but the hokage had briefed him that the mission was strictly reconnaissance so why have an anbu black ops in the team if it's that simple, 'something must be off here' he thought to himself.

"Oh Hinata you're finally here!" the hokage said in an overly cheery tone, Shino noticed him putting away his pervert books 'hm, of course he's too embarrassed to have it out in front of her'. "Hinata!" Ino immediately hugged her friend and hinata then proceeded to greet everyone in the room to which Shino replied with a slight nod, still trying to wrap his head around the need for all of them to complete such a simple enough mission in truth. After the fourth Shinobi war peace was relatively achieved with all the other nations so why were spy missions still a thing?.

"Alright everyone now that you're all here I can finally explain". "About time" Shino said under his breath too low for the others to hear though. He might've been well accustomed to long periods of silence, but the curiosity of this was eating him up from the inside.

"About a week ago the former mizukage of the village hidden in the mist, Mei terumi, was apprehended under suspicion of treason towards the newly elected mizukage. Many if her loyal followers, citizens and ninja are remaining stubbornly loyal and as such have been inciting riots within the village leading to a small scale civil war which might not stay small for much longer". Everyone stared at him with their mouths agape, except for shino of course who was also shocked by the development despite his mask of indifference. "so our mission is to keep the peace by providing more military enforcement?" ino asked out of curiosity, this situation was way too convoluted. "Actually..."

Kakashi pulled out a scroll from one of his cupboards already opened. "Days after receiving the mists cry for help we received a new message from one of our ninja patrolling near the village, and they had some very disturbing information to share with us".

The hokage cleared his throat before he read the message out loud. "Dear hokage sensei, multiple visits to and from the village hidden in the mist indicate a large scale genjutsu has been cast upon many of the inhabitants, I believe that the conspiracy that has been launched against the former mizukage is a part of this and there is more to the story than meets the eye, I recommend a responsible squad be sent to investigate under the guise of military support yet said squad must be well equipped with the ability to observe in silence without tipping the caster of the jutsu off to their true purpose, choose wisely"

'interesting' Hinata thought as she swirled such a massive amount of information around in her head all at once. "for a genjutsu to cover up an entire city and affect many inhabitants all at the same time in the same way" shino started before ino interrupted "would require a massive amount of Chakra which means...", "we may be dealing with a large group of ninja" Kakashi finished the sentence as he looked up at all team members nodding their heads each coming to the realization that this was a sensitive mission.

Having a powerhouse like Naruto or rock Lee would've been good for the team but if the other nations caught wind that the leaf were sending out a squad of powerful ninja including the nine tails jinchuuriki, not only would the mist take it as a threat and a challenge but the caster of the genjutsu would immediately realize that there was more to this squad than just a peace keeping mission. This required stealth not strength, and Naruto wasn't very adept in the former.

"Okay now that you have your mission, which is to observe and report don't cause conflict unless there is no alternative, you can all leave for the village hidden in the mist right now. Our spy will make contact with you once you've made it halfway there shino you will be the captain of the mission, remember to tread lightly"

"yes hokage-Sama!" they all said in unison before vanishing

And the hokage returned to his favorite reading material.

**End chapter**

**whew*** that took quite some time even if my grammar and sentence structure might not show it. I hope you liked the chapter and yes it's progressing very slowly but rest assured it should pick up very soon when the next chapter goes up

Please if you liked it don't be afraid to follow and review, whatever criticisms you have I would love to hear them because I'll never improve if you don't tell me so I would greatly value your opinion, thank you.

And I hope you to see you next time

:)


	2. failures of the past

'A random reader'-thank you for the advice, looking back at it I see what you mean and I will attempt to write her in a way that she is fierce but still stays in character. Of course in this version she has changed quite a bit but don't worry I will try keep her from feeling like a Mary Sue, she will earn her victories. Thank you for giving it another chance and I'll try to keep you intrigued and interested in the story.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE NARUTO CHARACTERS OR THE STORY ITSELF IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. THESE CHARACTERS BELONG TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO ALONG WITH ALL OF NARUTO.**

**Chapter 2**

Leap after leap, after leap they had finally stopped at a small clearing after making an enormous amount of headway in their traveling. They had covered 3 days distance in one day!, it was almost as if they were actually excited to be going on a mission after a very long peacetime, not that any of them would complain after the war they had found a new appreciation for peace. With that said though the presence of peace negated the need for ninja at least by a significant margin although bandits were still a thing.

"okay I think we can set up camp here for the night" shino said as they landed in the same open plain surrounded by trees all around. "You guys set up the tents while I gather some firewood" he said, leaving the two girls behind. "Hey hinata how come i haven't seen you in so long" ino said in her trademark cheerful tone as she started untangling the complicated tents. Hinata giggled watching her friend struggle with the equipment "here let me help you, I've been busy with missions and such". "Did you come to Sakuras engagement party?" she asked in return and hinata felt a certain unease start to creep in, whenever her friends asked her about Narutos engagement it usually came with an interrogation about her dating life which she did not have. "Yes, I was there". "How are you feeling?" " I am uhm... " before she could even respond ino cut her off "look you can tell me anything that's on your mind" hinata sighed "I know you are trying to help, but I am fine I am happy and there is nothing interesting happening in my life I would much rather hear about you"

"Have you been with anyone ever since...? ". "No I'm still completely single, and I'm not sure if I could handle another relationship so soon after that whole disaster". "Do not worry you will find someone else, but I do not understand what was wrong with shikamaru?". "you don't have to be so formal with me hinata" "ohh apologies I did not realize I was..." "you're doing it again" ino laughed "just say sorry instead" "sorry" "good, as for what happened with shika well..." . "Urgh, he's so lazy... and he never listens and he..." she paused for a moment. Hinata looked over at her friend as she pulled some more rope slowly pulling the tent into form, she noticed the tears in her friends eyes and stopped her work opting to walk over and pull her into a hug." Oh who am I kidding?, we were so good together and I blew it!" she said over muffled sobs. "What happened?", "After the war..." as soon as those words left her lips hinata understood where this was going. Many stories in the leaf now began with "because of the war" in the leaf village especially amongst the younger generation, her generation, and she was no exception.

"He blamed himself for chojis death, and I could've been there for him but I blamed him too" she said as the tears started to flow freely "I was so selfish". "It's not your fault, you were in pain and besides we all lost people in the war" she replied, with her own painful memories nearly surfacing. She had finally experienced what true war felt like, it leaves behind an empty shell of your former self, after losing neji she had resigned herself to taking care of bandits in the land of fire as way to distract herself from her feelings. She wanted to feel strong, not helpless. She wanted control, to convince herself that there was something she could have done to save him as self depricating as it sounds. She had never been good friends with shikamaru but even she had heard about how the unenthusiastic ninja had somehow become even more so.

The bright side of the countless rogue bandit missions she was given though, was that she had gained more experience as a ninja. Even though she was only fighting unskilled bandits with the occasional rogue ninja here and there this had still helped her out quite a bit. She was no longer the innocent child who pandered for other people's approval, or stuttered everytime she was around a boy she liked. She understood what it meant to fight for her village, to fight for her friends, to fight for herself, and since then she's never felt helpless since. Many people had complimented her growth and how much she changed, saying it was positive. She was definitely happy with the praise but such things no longer made her feel valued, she found value not in impressing her friends but rather impressing herself.

"come on" hinata said as she wiped her friends face of her tears "let's finish setting up the tents and then we can have dinner, I brought some food home" she said with a genuine smile. Ino forced a smile back "yeah okay, I'd like that"

In the forest multiple figures started cackling as they prepared their plan

**Hours later, well after dark**

"Aah" hinata exclaimed as she sat down on a makeshift bed made of blankets on the outside enjoying the warmth of the fire that shino had started. Both shino and ino had gone to sleep in their respective tents while she remained outside for watch duty. She had volunteered on account of her bakugan having great range and at the time she wasn't sleepy. They had just finished eating her bento box meals, all except one, she wondered when they would meet their fourth member considering she didn't want to throw the food out and would much rather eat it herself if the situation came down to it. It should stay good for another day or so probably, it was times like these she really admired the hyuuga chefs.

As she sat in her blankets her mind began to wander off. By the time they accomplished the mission, depending on how long it takes, and they return home things won't be the same anymore. Hanabi will most likely be the leader of the clan, Naruto and Sakura will have their wedding, but what about her. Her friends and family are all living their lives moving forward, except ino but that was just momentary lapse, despite this her friend was one of the highest rated medical ninja in the village. Even with her anbu status, her father's approval, and even losing her stutter. She still felt..., she didn't know what she felt but she didn't like it. She looked up at the moon and saw his face. 'Neji, maybe you could understand'. She turned on her side and suddenly she felt drowsy. Perhaps it was sudden movement of her head or something. So she closed her eyes to gather herself. Instead she fell asleep.

It was a well deserved rest after a long period of travel, until she was bit in the left arm by... Something she couldn't make out in the middle of the night. The moment she was bit she became hyper aware of the situation only now noticing that she wasn't on the ground anymore but was flying through the air at top speed, being carried by someone as they leapt through the forest. She screamed but this only made her aware of the gag tied around her mouth, the rope holding her feet together and the rope holding her wrists together at the base of her back. In an instant her bakugan was on and she started struggling in her kidnappers arms as they carried her bridal style through the air. The more she struggled the tighter he held her, then he punched her in the face and she started losing consciousness. As she was passing out in mid air in the arms of an attacker she felt it. The helplessness, the weakness, the tears as her eyes slowly started to water. Her hard work amounted to nothing, her training, her progress, her strength was barely strength at all.

'**No!**' she screamed at herself in her mind. She reactivated her bakugan and suddenly she moved up as fast and hard as she could and smashed his nose with with the top of her head. The moment he recoiled and his grip became loose she wiggled out of it, and pushed her weight on top of his as they fell through the forest straight into the ground. She pulled a kunai out of her pouch and cut her feet and hands free before striking him in the chest as hard as she could with her palm. After removing her gag, she then jumped up into the trees to identify what exactly was going on seeing as she was still a little disoriented. Landing on a giant branch she tried looking around with her bakugan.

She was unable to rest however, she drew her kunai, made a sharp standing turn as she deflected multiple shuriken before flipping back and running up the tree to give herself more time and space to coordinate her movements. She stopped in the middle of her run, planted her feet firmly on the wood, looked up to see three of them flying in her direction with two of them only a few meters away. She jumped at full force and speed blitzed both of them, appearing right in front of them in mid air as she connected her fingers on a single spot under one of their necks while she elbowed the other in the back of the head sending them flying towards a large branch. She turned in mid air kicking the first one right in the abdomen knocking the air right out of their body as they crashed into the ground she didn't need to look at their body because she already knew, they were dead.

Before she landed she noticed the third one fall to the ground, 'it must be shino' she thought.

The other attacker who had fell towards the large branch had bounced of the hard surface before flipping into stance, drawing two kunai so large they could barely be described as kunai. She landed in front him drawing one herself. They had a staredown for what felt like hours to him but in reality was only seconds to her. She looked at him with murder in her eyes, he swallowed and ran towards her with both kunai drawn. She intercepted him blocking each one of his attacks with some difficulty. This wasn't just a bandit it had to be a rogue ninja judging by the weapons he was using and how well he was using them. He blocked her attempts to stab and almost sliced her head in half resulting in a slice across her cheek instead. She couldn't find a clear opening until, there! She noticed his left arm was slower than his right when swinging. She blocked a swing he made with his right, crouched down turned and kicked his left wrist so hard his weapon went flying in the distance. She then quickly moved into a standing position, grabbed his right wrist with her left and slashed his throat so fast all you could see was a white line in the night as the sharp steel went across his flesh going so deep it even scraped bone before she kicked his body away into one of the other trees.

She had been so transfixed with what she was doing that she didn't even feel his blood splatter across her face, then she noticed shino flying past her as she jumped to join him. She looked forward with her bakugan and noticed the last attacker carrying ino in front of them. They had a lot of ground to make up, they jumped as fast as they could but the distance was too great they never seemed to be getting closer no matter how hard they tried. Then as she forced her body to move through the cold air fatigue she noticed it, the man carrying their teammate stopped and suddenly fell to the ground.

When they finally got to the location they saw his body, but it was just that his bloodied body on its own without a head. It had been severed clean off his body and was now lying a few meters away in the forest somewhere.

She looked forward to see what exactly was going on and then she saw him. He was crouched next to inos body clearly examining her for injuries. Then shino spoke "Uchiha"

'Sasuke Uchiha was here!?' what was going on!

**End chapter**

This chapter was very difficult to write, it changed shape multiple times and to be honest I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would but hopefully you like it and whether you do or not feel free to tell me why in a review. I tried to upload quickly after the first chapter I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to upload but I'll try my best. As I said I'm still very new to writing here so I'm still figuring things out and I hope you can bere with me.

Thank you for reading and hopefully I'll see you again soon


	3. stories to tell

Sorry for taking so long to update but I've been swamped with school work I'm gonna try to be more consistent from now on. This chapter may feel very rushed as a result but I felt that I had to upload something just to get back in the habit of updating.

**Chapter 3**

She was shocked, to say the least, at

what she was witnessing. Hinata stood quietly next to a tree as she collected her thoughts about the situation. It was morning now after the eventful night, and many questions had been posed but considering all of the attackers had been killed there were no answers. Everything made sense now that she thought about it. In the letter that the hokage read the person had addressed him as Hokage sensei, that should have been her first clue, so it makes that standing not too far across from her speaking to shino was none other than the last Uchiha himself. 'Sasuke uchiha' thinking of his name in her mind alone gave her chills. The monstrosities this man had committed in the past were enough to shake anyone. While Hinata was a firm believer in second chances considering her own personal experiences with neji and hiashi, she was definitely hesitant about this particular individual.

According to Sasuke he was the fourth member of their team and had been traveling for days to intercept them, but the kidnappers, Rogue ninja or bandits or whatever they were had found them first. She found her eyes traveling to where he would have had his left arm. It was incredible to her that he had opted against the replacement arm unlike Naruto. 'perhaps he's so powerful that he doesn't see the need for it' she thought to herself, this seemed the most likely reason to her. She had never spoken to Sasuke for longer than simple 'hellos' every now once in a blue moon, and even though Naruto seemed to like him, hinata had always seen him as arrogant and self-absorbed. 'All the girls in the village swooned over him, of course he's self-absorbed' she would deduce in her own mind and 10 years later her opinion still hadn't changed.

She looked over at ino's resting body. The attackers genjutsu had really affected her quite well, hinata tried her healing ointment but it did nothing to help. She had been wondering why she didn't suffer the same fate as ino considering they were placed under the same genjutsu but according to shino one of his bugs but her just as the attackers made off with her and infused her with a lot of adrenaline which Jumpstarted her Chakra network. He Said ino was too far by the time he woke up and his bugs couldn't catch up. She wondered what ino's reaction to Sasuke would be once she woke up. She didn't know if her friend still Harboured her thirteen year old selfs unhealthy obsession with the man. After all she is single now so who knows. Of course she was thinking all if thus without considering the possibility that in his time away from the village Sasuke hadn't acquired a companion for himself, or many companions perhaps. 'wait what is wrong with me' she caught herself before those thoughts could go on any further, she didn't need any crazy ideas popping up in her head.

"so you have no idea why they attacked you?" Sasuke asked. "They tried leaving with ino and hinata only so they have been rapers, but that's as far as I can imagine". "That does seem more likely, although we should be more careful from here on out, we can't waste too much time resting when we could be covering ground". "We're not machines, we need rest and ino doesn't seem to be able to travel by herself at the moment". "I could carry her the rest of the way". 'showoff' shino thought to himself. "I'm sure you could but that just seems like an impractical solution, if she doesn't wake up in the next day then we should leave" . "Hinata said her chakra isn't in distress and there's no physical harm on her body so she should be fine with a lit of rest" shino said to the stoic Uchiha. "Fine" he said walking away "but I'll be taking the first watch since you don't seem adequate for the task" he said loud enough that hinata heard him as he walked through the forest away from shino. She glared at him as he walked away, if looks could kill not even the reanimaton technique would work on him.

IN THE FOREST SOMEWHERE

'Annoying' that's what this was, he thought to himself as he swam around in the mini hot spring he had created to Clean himself and ease the tension in his muscles after the immense traveling he had been doing. He used his fire style to heat the water and voila a personal hotspring to distract him from his mild annoyance at the situation. 'Maybe I should have asked Kakashi to send the dobe' , at least he would have been more entertaining than these people. 'If i was traveling alone I would be a third of the way there by tomorrow!'. He moved around in the spring to distract himself from his rising temper. 'Calm down, at least when we get there I'll go back to investigating so I won't have to worry about them too much'.

Hinata was walking through the forest with contempt. 'That jerk' she said in her head 'if he has something to say he should say it to my face! ' she she nearly screamed as she kicked a nearby tree to let out her frustration. She didn't appreciate people doubting her ninja skills. She wasn't out here to scream about him however, she came out here to find some water. Lo and behold there was a sound coming from somewhere in the forest. She made her way over there and found the base of a waterfall. She went to the river and started adding it to to her multiple flasks. As she continued doing this she noticed the air was warmer than when she first arrived here. 'Oh there must be some sort of gyser system here somewhere' she walked along the banks of the river and jumped across. She ran for a bit and then emerged from the trees to find a disturbing sight.

Sasuke Uchiha was standing up from what looked like a makeshift hotspring and he was completely naked!. She couldn't stop the the heat from rising to her cheeks and the sound from leaving her throat as she screamed at the top of her lungs. Sasuke quickly turned around to see a stunned still hinata, he immediately yelled "what the hell are you doing here?, leave!" she immediately complied with his request although she was very irate at the tone he used she definitely did not want to remain in that situation for much longer.

A few hours later the sun had set for quite a while and the team were sitting around a fire quietly, each to their own devices except for ino who was resting in her own tent where they had laid her down. "we need to make haste tomorrow, there's no telling how the situation could be changing every moment that Sasuke is not there to monitor and report" shinos said packing supplies in order to ensure an early leave tomorrow, of course this was just hopeful thinking with inos condition. 'even if she doesn't wake up, Uchiha offered to carry her, it would be amusing to see him honor that promise'. "Agreed" both hinata and Sasuke replied at the same time. "Alright well with that in mind I shall be taking my leave, goodnight"

After shino had retreated to his own tent it had gone completely silent between the two as they both just sat there around the fire. Hinata tried her best not to look at him, she was still miffed at his comments about her lookout abilities while also embarrassed about what had transpired earlier in the day. She still wanted to get along with him though, if they were to complete this mission they would require clear communication a difficult task if two members dislike each other besides Naruto saw something in him so the least she could do is try.

Sasuke closed his eyes relaxing and trying to ignore the hyugas gaze. 'She's been staring at me for a few minutes what is wrong with her!?' it seems Hinata was so lost in thought she didn't realize what she was doing. All of a sudden she stood up and walked to her tent, Sasuke was relieved assuming she was going to sleep. She came back a few moments later with a bento box. "Here, I had food for every member of the team and I saved this one for the fourth member". To say Sasuke was surprised would be an understatement "uhm, thank you" he took the box and opened it to find cold rice-balls and meat, not his favorite but it would suffice. "I'm sorry for my intrusion on your... Uhh privacy" she said with a huge gulp... "I was just looking for some water". She wasn't really sorry for finding him that way, aside from her embarrassment, the woods weren't a private place that belonged to anyone but still she figured such an action would cut the tension between them and effectively break down his walls. This was all for the mission of course.

"Don't worry about it, I actually have some water if you would like" Sasuke said reaching into his bag and, to her surprise, pulling out a relatively large flask of water, larger than her own no doubt. "Thank you Sasuke-kun", "please just Sasuke I don't like formalities" he said as he continued eating the food, it seemed none of her teammates except maybe with the exception of shinos cared for her hyuga manners.

"So what have you been up to since the end of the war, how did you end up in the land of waves?."

Sasuke raised his brow at her forwardness, he didn't remember speaking much with her back at the academy but he could've sworn she had some sort of stutter and was much more shy than how she was acting in the moment.

" I've been investigating and monitoring the other nations for the leaf in case of possible breaches in the treaty. Those investigations lead me to the land of waves before I was supposed to go to the lightning village where I first encountered the genjutsu"

"how is it to travel around the world?" hinata asked quickly cutting him off. She hadn't anticipated that his answer would have felt so formal, in the short time that she had been speaking in this informal manner she had become so accustomed to it that it felt more comfortable than hyuuga training. Sasuke was caught off-guard although he didn't mind considering he also didn't like talking about his missions. "I don't know it's fine, I don't get much time to myself considering the nature of my work, but I have seen some places that looked... Good I guess..."

"I've never left the leaf for anything other than a mission, and after some things I feel I really want to travel or more so just leave my worries behind."

"Hyuuga, take it from me I've been to many places but no matter how far you run you won't get over whatever problems you have by running from them"

"what problems did you have?" 'ohh no!' it had just slipped out and she felt she may have crossed the line now. She knew about the Uchiha massacre and what his brother had done but she thought perhaps since he had gotten his revenge on his brother he felt better about it, yet she still realised it must be hard to talk about. She couldn't think to imagine how she would have turned out in his circumstance. He was just silent though even long after she had spoken.

Sasuke sat in silence slowly munching on the last if his rice balls, was he really over his own issues? For lack of a better term. "No I'm not, that's how I know you can't do it." as the words slipped out of his mouth he caught himself, why was he saying all this to the Hyuuga.

At the same time hinata was having the same thought, she was hoping to break down the walls between them but this was more than what she expected. Mission accomplished.

"uhm... I think I'm going to take a rest now"

"okay, thank you for the food, you're a very good cook" she smiled at him innocently and genuinely. I didn't make it our workers at the compound did. "Ohh" the sound slipped out a bit faster than he intended. I could make some for you some other time though?" she replied quickly almost as if she felt a bit insulted at the idea that she needed servants, she always had a complicated relationship with her wealth and all that it brought. "You can if you want, I'm sure you're very good I meant no offense". he responded realising how she could've misread his reaction.

"Thank you" she said standing up "sleep well"

"you too" he Said as he watched her retreating form.


End file.
